Forgotten Crimes
by Chuckaboo
Summary: For the last five years, the Originals were able to live their lives without any bigger interferences. Rebekah and Finn learnt what life is like as humans, while Elijah, Nikolaus and Freya learnt to be less dependent on their family. All of this changes when they receive a threatening letter that brings them back together, and they realize no crime is ever truly forgotten.
1. Chapter 1

**_Synopsis:_ **For the last five years, the Originals were able to live their lives without any large interferences. Rebekah and Finn learnt what life is like as humans, while Elijah, Nikolaus and Freya learnt to be less dependent on their family. All of this changes when they receive a threatening letter that brings them back together, and they realize no crime is ever truly forgotten.

_**Thanks for checking out my story! Technically, this is a sequel to the other story I wrote (1002 years), but I don't think it's necessary to have read that one. Everything should be pretty self-explanatory. This is a mystery/romance story. And it's a bit different from the first one I wrote. I'm aiming at ca. 20 chapters. Feel free to tell me if there's one part you really like and I should write more about :-) **_

* * *

_**New York, Present Day**_

"Please tell me you're not here because you want something," Rebekah sighed, wondering if she should smash the door into her brother's face.

"Nice to see you, too, Rebekah," Elijah said, smiling. "And before you throw me out, I'm only here to see how you are doing."

She considered him drily, as if his appearance gave away any clues.

"No hidden agenda. I promise," he assured her.

"Alright," she said, first with some hesitation, but then she beamed "you may come in!"

Elijah had only taken two steps over the door frame until he stopped abruptly.

With judging eyes, he gazed over her belongings in the small kitchen slash living room.

"Don't start," she said.

She knew what was coming.

"I know I've said this before, but I or Niklaus can give you money to live in a nicer place. Nobody's forcing you to live like this."

"I don't need your money," she waved him down. "I work and I get paid for it. It's an integral part of the human experience. And I want to experience everything like a human."

There had been some days where Rebekah missed the heightened senses of being a vampire. Hearing more than what was happening right next to her, being fast, things like that. But there were other things that she noticed instead, that had returned ever since she returned human. She felt hot and cold sometimes, or the wind or rain on her skin. In general, she had become much more aware of herself, on her body, and less of her surroundings. It must have to do with not being undead, she assumed.

Despite what her brother had been claiming before, Rebekah had the feeling he came to her with something specific. It had been many months since she had seen any of her brothers, and barely anyone in their family ever reached out only to see how their siblings were doing. So she waited for him to reveal his intentions.

Sure enough, Elijah continued: "There is one reason I came here."

He pulled out a glossy magazine out of his jacket and let it fall on the kitchen table between them.

"Your travel literature?" Rebekah asked with a fake disinterest.

Elijah glared at her with frustration. "You're telling me that you have never seen this before?"

Rebekah knew she wasn't getting out of this one.

When she didn't reply, Elijah opened the magazine to a specific page and began reading out loud.

"_The tales of a 19__th__ century woman in New Orleans. A story praised by critics for its excellent eye to historical detail._" He looked up again, judging.

Rebekah bit her lip and waited for the blow.

"You wrote this!" he said, reproachingly. "How could you do something like that?"

Rebekah shrugged. "What's wrong with it?"

"You can't write down your life story and sell it to a lousy magazine, Rebekah!"

"Why not? I happen to have great intel into the happenings of the last thousand years. Might as well make some money out of it!"

"If you need money you could talk to me," he said reproachfully. "No need to sell your past to make a living."

Rebekah wavered uncomfortably. "I mean, it's not like I could make a living out of these stories. Publishing stories is not a very lucrative business, you know. I still need to work in the coffeeshop."

"All of this just so that people can find out who you are?" he sighed.

"They won't!" she snapped back. "I left out anything that would connect the story to me or you, or anything about vampires or magic for that matter. It's just some historical fiction that people happen to enjoy."

Frustrated, Elijah shook his head.

"What have you been up to these days?" Rebekah asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh, this and that," Elijah said quickly.

She couldn't tell if he was avoiding a reply because he was still upset about the magazine, or because he didn't want her to know.

There was no chance to go further into the subject, when Elijah asked: "Have you heard anything from our brothers recently?"

"Finn is still in Indonesia, travelling. I think. He sends me pictures from time to time," Rebekah replied.

"Same. A while ago he asked if I wanna join him to hike through southeast Asia. I declined. The whole travelling with a backpack in a humid climate is not for me."

"Yeah, nobody irons their shirts while backpacking, Elijah," Rebekah laughed.

"I would like to see him more often, of course, but at least _he_ tries to stay in contact," Rebekah said, gritting her teeth.

Elijah took a moment until he caught on her meaning.

"What has Niklaus done now?" Elijah asked.

"Nothing! That's the point. He never writes or calls. I only hear from him when I contact him first. I mean it's nice that he's not as pushy and overprotective as he used to be."

Rebekah stopped to think about what she was saying, and shook her head. "I don't know why I'm complaining."

"Do you talk to him often?" she asked.

Elijah shook his head. "Sometimes. I saw him at Christmas last. But if I know anything about him and who he is with, he's up to something."

"World domination?" Rebekah suggested with a smiled.

"Very likely," Elijah replied.

Rebekah shrugged. "As long that doesn't involve me, he can do whatever he likes."

"So," she straightened herself up, "if you don't mind. I'll have to get to work. It's important. Earning money, making a living, and such."

Elijah opened his mouth, ready for another reminder that she in fact had money, but then rolled his eyes with a frustrated sigh.

Only after she had promised to meet him again after her shift, he had left. She was glad she had a few hours now to think. No matter what her brothers' intentions were whenever they had shown up in New York, in the end they always wanted her to come with them. Finn had done the same several times in the last five years. He usually wanted her to come travel with him. At least with Finn, she didn't have to worry that he wanted to turn her into a vampire as well. With Elijah she never quite knew.

And Nik. He had never visited her in New York in all that time. Fair enough, she had never asked him. In fact she had asked all her brothers to leave her alone for a while. But why did Nik take that so seriously? It wasn't like him at all. She couldn't but feel annoyed and also a little bit hurt by it.

No, she said to herself and shook those thoughts off. If she was left out of whatever drama Niklaus created in London, that was a good thing. She didn't want drama. She needed to remember that.

As she passed down the steep stairway of her large and old apartment complex that had seen better days a long time ago, she passed the mailboxes. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a bright and shiny corner of a letter reaching out of her mailbox. Curiously, she stopped. The envelope was much nicer than the ones she usually received. It couldn't be an invoice.

Rebekah opened the letter carefully. In a slender and clear writing she read:

_What you did was a crime against nature. You are going to pay for it._

With shaking hands she put the letter down in front of her. She picked up her phone and dialled.

After a few seconds, Elijah picked up.

"Elijah, you have to come back. Right now."

* * *

_**London, 3 months earlier, Christmas**_

Freya remembered how she had introduced her new boyfriend Peter to Finn a few months before. Finn had been in Copenhagen for a few nights so they went to eat dinner together. At first she had been nervous if they liked each other, but everything had gone very well. They had talked about travelling and work and other banal things, and she had a truly enjoyable time. It felt like a conversation normal people would have. That evening had been one of Freya's happiest nights in her whole life.

When she had first met Peter, it seemed too good to be true. Only after she made sure that he wasn't a vampire, witch or werewolf, she truly trusted him. He worked as an analyst in a bank. Freya happily listened to whatever he told her about his work, because it didn't include any sacrifices or resurrections, only numbers, deadlines and gossip about colleagues.

Freya truly hoped that the introduction to the rest of her brothers would go just as smoothly. But she knew that this would be harder. For Finn it must have been easier to appear normal, being a human. Her other brothers were still vampires. However, Freya had to admit that both of them had become very good at minding their own business in the last few years.

And then there was the issue that Peter had to meet the whole gang at the same time. Next to Elijah and Niklaus, Briony, Davina and Marcel would be there as well. If their magical oddnesses didn't scare him off, those five exhausting personalities would.

If only Finn was here too. But her presently favourite brother had announced a while back that he'd be staying in Nepal for the remaining winter. And from what Freya had heard from her brothers, Rebekah wouldn't be in London, either. Without the humans present it would be much harder.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked, as they had walked up the house her siblings had called home these days.

"Yeah," Freya said who realized she had been playing the fuzzy ends of her scarf. "Just a bit nervous. My family has never celebrated Christmas before. And with them being maybe even more chaotic than usual, I am afraid they might not make the best first impression on you."

Peter laughed. "I'm sure they'll be fine. You should see my family at holidays, full of reserved awkwardness. I doubt your family can top that."

"We'll see about that," Freya replied. She doubted anything about her family was going to be reserved.

"Your brother's and sister-in-law's house is beautiful," Peter said impressed.

"She's not my sister-in-law. They're not a couple. I think. It's complicated. Maybe don't bring it up," Freya said.

Freya had tried to explain the family relations to her boyfriend before. Her brothers and her sister were easy enough. Explaining who Marcel, Davina and Briony were, and what they had been doing there was trickier. Marcel she had called an "old family friend". But how do you explain a random teenage girl who lives in the same house as them? She had settled calling Davina her brother's ward. Despite the oldtimey word, Peter hadn't asked anything further.

Briony was a whole different issue. Freya had wondered what Peter would say if she had told him the truth: "Oh you know, Niklaus once accidentally killed his brother Kol and his witch girlfriend, but the girlfriend survived somehow and befriended Nik afterwards." It was easier to keep that relationship a bit vague, hoping that Peter was too polite to ask any uncomfortable questions.

They had arrived last. Elijah, Niklaus, Briony, Marcel and Davina had already been gathered in the living room. After the greetings, Freya could immediately tell whose idea the party was. Davina had ushered her and Peter inside and offered them drinks and appetizers and told them to marvel at the Christmas tree.

"I'm still not sure why we're doing this. We have never celebrated Christmas. It's not a thing we do," Elijah told her somewhat bemused.

"I don't care too much for it either, but here we are," Nik replied.

Davina glared at both of them. "So much for festival spirits."

Marcel who was the most interested in the festivities, for Davina's sake probably, helped her setting up more snacks.

"Why didn't Rebekah wanna come?" Freya asked, watching Davina's and Marcel's doings.

"She said she didn't have the money right now to travel over the holidays," Niklaus said.

"Please tell me you offered to pay for it," Elijah weighed in.

Niklaus shrugged. "She already has access to the family bank account. If she wants our help, she already has it. I'm not going to force her to come here."

Elijah gave him a bewildered look.

"She can decide for herself," Niklaus added.

Freya was relieved to see that her family had accepted Peter well enough. Especially Niklaus had been irritated that she was bringing an ignorant human to the party, which meant that they had to behave much more than usual. But these previous worries must have been gone. With delight, Freya watched how Davina and Briony showed him pictures of Davina's last term at university. It was a boring topic, sure, but very normal. Normal was good.

"It's so nice that you offered to pay her tuition. A girl like her would have never had the means to get in there on her own," she said to Nik, who had been sitting next to her on the sofa.

"Very true," Marcel said with light snort.

Freya looked at him inquisitively.

"Let's just say giving the school money wasn't the only thing they did so that Davina could go to Oxford."

Freya raised an eyebrow.

Nik explained: "Obviously they weren't going to take some girl that didn't even finish her highschool in another country. Which I personally find a stupid rule - they can't measure her knowledge based on that fact. So we made sure that she was accepted, and sired the committee board."

"But that was basically the only thing we did. We told her that she needed to work for her grades after that and that we can't help her anymore. We're not that irresponsible." Nik was very pleased with himself.

Freya took a deep breath. By now she knew her brother well enough to see that he thought he had done a good deed. It was to early to start a fight and she decided to let it go.

"Here's your present," Niklaus said and held out wrapped box.

"You got me a present?" Freya asked surprised.

He was literally the last person she had expected a present from.

"Sure," he said. "I had to get something for these two," he nodded to Davina and Marcel, "so it seemed rude to not get something for everyone else as well."

He handed out two gifts two Davina and Marcel. Davina grabbed hers with gleaming excitement.

Briony leaned over him to talk to Freya. "I didn't get you anything. I'm not supporting this weird 21st century consumerism that makes you spend money in the name of Pagan gods that don't get anything out of it."

"This holiday has nothing to do with Pagan gods anymore, Briony," Davina said exhausted.

Without a comment and untouched by the conversation, Niklaus handed Briony a gift.

"You got me something?" she said, touched.

Silently, Peter was watching the events with polite interest. Every now and then, he looked over to Elijah with anticipation.

Elijah, who had probably made the most approachable impression of the bunch, sat there just as quietly. Freya had assumed he might have made the best conversationalist in their family, but right now he only sporadically glanced over with an almost neutral gleam.

Freya knew that look. It was a "why bother even starting a conversation when I will never see this guy again" look.

In passing, she gave Elijah a nudge.

"So what else do you do, Peter?" he asked.

"I'm a photographer," Peter explained.

"That _does_ sound interesting," Elijah said, with a bit too much surprise.

"Yes," Peter said, "my main focus lies on iron doors and gates."

"You take pictures of doors," Elijah summarized drily.

To Freya's relief, Peter didn't catch the undertone, and happily elaborated on his work.

Freya observed all of them. It was going well enough.

She had almost allowed herself relax until Davina went to check on the dinner.

Shortly after, the door flew open and Davina marched into the room.

"Why is there a living goat in the supply room?" she said, repressing some anger.

"Oh, I got it this morning, for the holiday spirit" Briony weighed in.

With a new thought, her face turned excited: "In a way, that means I did support 21st century consumerism! Look at me, all fitting in with the holidays suddenly!"

"What are you going to do with it?" Davina asked, unsure.

"Slice its throat open and sacrifice it to the old gods, obviously," Briony replied seriously.

Nik's face had lit up. "Oh, we haven't done that in a while!"

"You have completely lost your mind," Davina shook her head in disbelief and left the living room again.

"Don't be upset, Davina," Briony shouted after her. "We can eat the goat afterwards."

Peter leaned over to Freya and whispered: "Your sister-in-law is kidding, right?"

Freya smiled uncomfortably.

"Shall we talk about this after dinner, maybe?" Marcel quickly said and stood up.

The rest of the evening passed without any further mishaps or supernatural oddities. Marcel and Davina talked about Oxford again, which made her forget her previous annoyance with the goat and brought the conversation back into the realm of human.

Around midnight, the festivities were decided to be over and group split up over the house, into the various rooms. Relieved and relatively happy, Freya watched everyone go to bed.

Elijah had stayed back in the living room, taking down the various decorations that Davina had put up earlier and placing them, somewhat carelessly, into a box.

"What did you think?" Freya asked.

"Well, I'm disappointed that we left out the goat sacrifice. That would have promised some action."

Freya gave a sad laugh. "Give me another few months and I might be able to laugh about that, too."

"Don't worry about Peter, I don't think he grasped that the goat was in actual danger there."

Freya smiled. "Yeah, I think he was having a good time. And thank you. You know, for keeping it together and having a relatively normal Christmas so I could bring him as well."

She helped him taking down elaborate garlands that were stuck on the ceiling.

"Sure. To be honest, it might not be the worst idea to bring an outsider to these kind of events to keep them from becoming complete disasters."

Freya rolled up the long garland into a nice ball, and glanced over the room that was now almost back to normal. "You know, minus the extensive decoration, this house is actually really nice. I can see why you all consider it as a home now."

"No thanks to me. I'm barely here. But I see what you mean."

"And Davina is in Oxford most of the year, I assume. What about Marcel?"

"Also in Oxford from what I heard. Not to study, but it seems like he is there as well."

Freya counted in her head who was left. "So Nik and Briony are here by themselves?"

After a pause she added: "What do they do here?"

Elijah smiled. "I honestly don't know. But I haven't heard any complaints from the outside world, so I have no intention in getting involved."

"So," Freya asked hesitantly but with curiosity, "what's the deal with those two anyway?"

"Still the same as before, I think," Elijah said. "A weird symbiotic friendship, where they are either completely ignorant of their own feelings or just don't want to admit to them."

"I didn't take Nik for somebody who has trouble to admit his feelings," Freya said.

"He usually doesn't," Elijah said, hesitating. Then he added: "This is different. He has trouble admitting his feelings for his dead brother's girlfriend."

As Freya walked up to the bedroom that had been assigned to her - she appreciated that there had been a room named "Freya's room" in the house ever since her family had moved in here - she thought about the evening. Five years ago she had left her siblings alone to figure out what she wanted for herself. She had to admit it had gone well. None of them had fallen off the map and yet didn't pester her. It seemed like a very healthy family relationship. Of course, she didn't quite believe that Nikolaus had been living a peaceful life here in London. But Elijah was right. If Nik had done anything too terrible, they would have heard about it.

For a long time she had wondered if there would be repercussions for the many bad things they had done to nature, those many intricate spells that misbalanced nature, spells of vampirism, death or resurrections. But nothing bad had ever happened to them ever since. Perhaps the world had truly forgotten their crimes. That would be good, Freya thought, then she could forget, too.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	2. Chapter 2 The Weakest Link

_**Hi guys, new update! I hope you like it!**_

* * *

**London, present day**

"Don't get worried about a stupid letter. It's not a big deal," Niklaus said over the phone.

Rebekah sounded anxious about the death threat she had received. Especially because Elijah had received one as well, almost at the same time.

"Did you also get a letter?" she asked.

He hesitated. He didn't want to scare them.

"Yeah."

"What about Briony?" she asked.

"She did, too."

Rebekah's voice sounded very reproachful. "And you still think it's not a big deal that someone took the time to prepare death threats for each of us individually? I wouldn't be surprised if Finn and Freya got letters as well. Who is behind this and what do they want from us?"

"Do you know how many death threats I have received in my life? Who cares what they're about? Whoever sent them should have been more specific if they wanted our attention."

"Whoever was behind it managed to find us even though we were on different continents! I think that's a bit worrisome!"

Nik thought. "Perhaps you and Elijah shouldn't split up."

After a pause he added: "Why don't you come here? Then we can figure out what this is about together. And I'll find out in the mean time if Finn or Freya got letters, too."

He didn't have any luck in reaching the rest of his siblings. They knew that Finn was travelling, probably somewhere very remote where there was no phone reception. But they didn't know where Freya had gone. They hadn't talked since Christmas. Back then she had mentioned that she and her boyfriend would go back to Denmark.

Just when Nik had put his phone down, it started ringing again. Eagerly, he picked it up. It was Marcel.

"What's up?" he asked.

Marcel sounded worried. "To get to the point, Davina and I received death threats."

Perhaps he should get concerned, Nik thought. If someone sent him death threats, he could deal with it, he always had. But if somebody reached out to everyone close to his family so thoroughly, this might be serious.

"Did anything else happen?" Nik asked. "Anything that could be suspicious?"

"No," Marcel said. "Nothing that we noticed. All normal."

"Ask him if we should go get them!" Briony had appeared next to Nik and had suddenly evolved a motherly instinct, shouting over him into the phone.

Marcel replied: "No, it's fine. I think we'll stay put for now. I need to do some work, and Davina has classes. If we notice anything out of the ordinary, we'll let you know."

It was for the best, Niklaus thought. Being intimidated by such a weak attempt of a threat was unnecessary. They should keep up their normal lives for now.

He would have said the same to Elijah and Rebekah, but the truth was he hadn't seen them in a while. And this had been a very easy way to get them to London.

When he hung up the phone, Briony looked at him scandalized.

"You told them to stay put?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged. "They wanted to. I think they are able to assess the situation on their own. If something else happens, we'll know."

Briony shook her head and sighed.

"There were no details mentioned in the letter, but I think we know what this is about, don't we?" Briony started, slowly pacing through the room.

"Yeah…" Nik said.

They had done many bad things in their lives, but the words "crimes against nature" would only fit to a few events. Nik heavily doubted that this was about them being vampires, because that attempt for revenge would come about 2000 years too late. Also, neither Marcel, Davina nor Briony had anything to do with it. No, this had to be about something more recent.

The longer he thought about, the clearer it was that there was only one event that fit the bill. About 5 years ago, they had resurrected Finn, Rebekah and Marcel from the dead, and they had come back as humans. Freya had warned them that this would be too upsetting for the balance of the earth, but they had gone through with it anyway. To everyone's surprise it had mostly worked, except a few setbacks. Briony had almost died in the process, Davina's powers had been considerably weakened, and they hadn't managed to finish the whole process, which meant they had never managed to bring back Kol. Until now, Nik hadn't been aware that anyone except those who were present that day - Elijah, Rebekah, Finn, Briony, Davina, Marcel, Freya and himself - knew about it.

Contemplating, Briony eventually said: "It's a hoax probably… but in case it isn't, are we prepared? Should we have a look out for something?"

Nik thought. When he had received his letter he hadn't thought twice about it. It was laughable to think that anyone would have a chance against him and Briony. With her magical powers that couldn't be matched by anyone else, he had the one thing that had been lacking when he was on his own. Together they were invincible.

But what about the others? Elijah could take care of himself. Human Rebekah not so much, but as long as she stayed with Elijah, she was going to be fine. Freya was still a powerful witch, and skeptical by default, so Nik had no doubts that she would keep away from any danger. Finn's abilities were harder to assess. He was no vampire anymore, but he had always been rather skillful and creative when it came to avoid trouble. Something told Nik he shouldn't worry about him now.

His mind went back to Marcel and Davina. As a relatively new vampire Marcel could take a stand against a group of humans for sure, but what if they weren't simple humans? With Davina he had even more doubts, she hadn't been practicing much magic in the last 5 years. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember one instance where he saw her use magic ever since they were in London. That wasn't a good sign. For now, they were the weakest link.

"Hey, do you know where Davina stands with her powers?" he asked Briony, only realizing now that she gone to the kitchen.

He heard her talk on the phone as he caught up with her.

"Excellent, thanks," she had said in the phone, and put it down again.

"Who did you just call?" he asked.

"Somebody who's already in Oxford," she said, satisfied.

"Who?"

"Katherine."

There was a long pause.

"How do you know she's in Oxford?" he asked.

"I'm keeping tabs on everybody's whereabouts, you know about that," she said bemused.

He did know that she had been doing this for centuries, but he wasn't aware it was such imminent knowledge.

Seeing his skeptical look, she added: "Don't worry about it. I'll let you know when it's something useful or important, like right now."

"That is not very reassuring," he said, thinking about what else she might filter or keep from him.

"Why is she in Oxford?" he asked.

"I don't know. I can only find out where people are. I'm not a clairvoyant."

"Wait-" Niklaus held her back. "We already know someone has threatened Marcel and Davina, and Katherine just happens to be there? Why on earth would you trust her?"

"You need to get over your petty vendetta against Katherine. It has been centuries since she has done anything bad against you."

Nik didn't reply.

He didn't want to distrust Briony. He never had to. She did things out of spite or stubbornness, but never malice.

"Alright," Nik decided and grabbed his coat and keys.

"Where are you going?" Briony asked.

"Oxford," he replied briskly.

"Why now? A second ago you wanted to stay here and not do anything about it."

"That was until I knew Katherine was there. Too big of a coincidence," he said as he walked to the entrance door and turned around again. "You can either come along or stay here."

Briony bit her lip. "I hate it when you do that."

* * *

**Oxford, at the same time**

"Are you going to stay like this until I'm back?" Davina had asked him with skepticism. "Playing that guitar, pretending to look cool?"

"Yes," Marcel said with a smile.

"You know, no one's watching. No need to impress anyone," she said as she put on her jacket.

Marcel had the feeling that this was a comment about the weekend before when had invited quite a big group of people over without telling her. She hadn't let go off it since and was sure he had only invited these people, mostly girls, so that they can swoon over him when he presented his mediocre musical skills.

"Ever since you got to England, you have become quite pretentious, Marcel," Davina added when she reminded him of that night again.

He grabbed the closest pillow and threw it after her. It missed her when she ducked and leapt out of the door.

"See you later!" he heard from the hallway.

"Keep your phone on!" he said, remembering the death threats.

When they had first arrived in Oxford, he had had this great idea of turning some people into vampires, like he had done in New Orleans. But he had decided to wait a little longer. In New Orleans, as a relatively old vampire, he always had the upper hand by being the strongest. If he turned them now, only 5 years after he had become a vampire again, they would be almost as strong as him. That wasn't what he wanted.

But now that some time had passed, he didn't mind too much being among humans. Oxford was fun, even without other vampires.

They had debated if they should tell Niklaus about the letters. Not too long ago, Marcel wouldn't have even bat an eye about an empty threat like that. But the truth was both he and Davina were truly out of shape if it came to supernatural confrontation. Especially Davina. Too much had her powers been drained back then. Were they even still active? He didn't want to ask her if she had tried ever since. And she never mentioned it herself.

Besides, she seemed pretty happy with her university life to be bothered by it.

Marcel assumed he'd still manage to fight off whoever wanted to attack them. But trying to be responsible he told Niklaus about it anyways.

That was a decision he now very much regretted. He wouldn't have minded if Nik or Briony showed up in Oxford, but who they sent instead was more than a hassle.

An hour after the call Katherine had shown up at his doorstep.

He didn't like Katherine. It was so difficult to trust her. With her calculating eyes, it seemed she was always ready for fight or flight.

Yet every time she had shown up in the past, he tried to tell himself that the only reason he felt the way he did was because of Nik, because everything Marcel had learnt about her was through him. That had a strong influence on how he thought of her. Marcel had to admit, she actually hadn't done anything in the last centuries that would deserve hate. And now she had even shown up to help.

"Where's the little witch?" she asked, passing him to get into the apartment without waiting for an invitation.

"Out with friends," he said briskly.

He didn't know why he was so brisk. After all, she came to help.

"Weren't you told to stay put?" Katherine asked drily. "And instead you split up, and one of you goes out with strangers?"

"They're not strangers. We've been here for a while, you might remember. Also from what I gathered there was no imminent danger."

Katherine observed him quietly. He couldn't tell what she was trying to figure out, but there was a gleam of disbelief in her face.

"Does Davina even have powers these days?" she asked.

He had no idea if she was trustworthy enough to know that much information. Yet that's why she was sent here, he told himself.

With some struggle, he said: "I honestly don't know."

"I suppose I'll stay here until she comes back," Katherine said, and sat down on the sofa chair in the corner.

"Are you really going to babysit me?"

Katherine shrugged. "I'm here to babysit you both. But I can't be in two places at one time."

"Unless, you prefer that we go to her and her not so strange-friends and bring her back here right now. Your call."

Marcel didn't see why he should also ruin Davina's night just because his was already ruined. "No, it's fine. Let's wait then."

After a dreadful hour passed without anything happening, it wasn't worth to be the only one who suffered. By now it had turned dark.

"Okay, I'll give her a call," he eventually said.

Katherine didn't reply but her face screamed "finally!".

He let the phone ring and ring.

_Hi, this is Davina. Leave me a mess-_

"She's not picking up?" Katherine said, skeptically.

"It's fine," he said quickly. "Nothing to worry about. Maybe she didn't hear it."

But as the words came out of his mouth, a uneasy feeling went through his spine.

"I'll try again," he said.

Again he heard the ringing. But then there was a click.

"Davina?" he said.

Silence.

The other end stayed quiet, but Marcel believed to hear someone breathing.

"Davina?" he said again.

A loud rumble rang out through the line, and it sounded like the phone was smashed to the ground. Suddenly a distant but loud scream by woman shrilled through the phone that made Marcel jump up. That was Davina, for sure. He and Katherine exchanged a look. She had heard it too.

Then the line dropped dead.

"We have to find her!" Marcel sprung up, reaching for the door.

"Wait!" Katherine held him back. "Wait! We don't know what we're running into."

Marcel tried to get rid off her grip, but she was much stronger than him.

"Let me go! We don't have time for this!"

"We need to know who did this. Call again!"

"No! Let go!"

"How do you think I survived this long?! Not by running into danger! And if this is a real threat you can't face them alone. You have no chance without backup!"

"If she's abducted or killed right now, what does it help us if help arrives in an hour?!"

Finally, Katherine let her grip go loose.

Angrily, Marcel freed himself from her and marched to the door. He knew where Davina was supposed to be. That was their best chance.

He knew that Davina's friends lived in a house nearby the campus, next to a bit of farmland.

Moments later, they stood in front of it. Until now he had no time to worry. But now he was glad that Katherine had followed him. Some backup might not be bad.

It didn't need a second glance to tell that something was very wrong. The small two-storey brick house at the end of the road looked like it was very recently forcefully emptied. The lights were still burning but the front door was missing. Overthrown bookshelves were spread over the hallway and a tipped over table was blocking the view to the room behind.

Marcel listened. The house was completely silent. No one was here anymore. Just to make sure, he turned to Katherine.

"The house is empty," she confirmed.

His heart sank. Until now he still had a small hope that everything was only a hoax. But this was real.

"There," Katherine suddenly said, and pointed to the fence that lead behind the house.

Several feet of fence were destroyed as if a car or another heavy object had rolled over. And as they moved closer they saw deep tire marks in the grass leading out to the dark meadow.

Marcel looked out into the darkness. Not too far out he could make out a barn. Through the gaps of its walls he could make out light.

He could hear Katherine saying 'trap' somewhere behind him, but he didn't care as he made a bolt towards it.

When he had reached the barn door, Katherine had caught up with him. Before she could say anything, he smashed the door open with his foot.

The sudden turn back to brightness took his eyes a second to adjust.

There was a man on the other side of the door, too startled to react. Before Marcel could do anything either, Katherine had already grabbed the man and smashed him against the wall. He flopped back on the floor without any movement.

"Seriously," she said, put off, "since mom and dad sent me to babysit you, you might wanna have some trust in me and what I can do."

"One more step…" a voice boomed from the other side of the dimly lit barn.

A woman was sitting on a wooden box, pointing a rifle at them.

"I think you know what this does," she added.

"I'm really not so afraid of guns, lady," Marcel replied.

Only now he spotted the young woman lying in the corner unconscious, while a man was standing next to her with his arms crossed.

"Davina!" Marcel tried to move towards her, but Katherine's hand had pressed into his arm.

Almost voicelessly she whispered 'hunters'.

Marcel stopped and turned back at the rifle. These weren't just humans with normal rifles. Katherine was right, this was a real threat. He quickly glanced through the room. Only now he noticed they were all wearing the same clothes, a kind of tailored uniform. He counted three other hunters, all facing them. They were too many. He couldn't defeat them alone.

But there was no way he'd leave Davina here.

He considered his options. How slow were this woman's reflexes going to be if he just charged and grabbed Davina and ran. Or should he go for the woman with the rifle instead? Most likely there would be more rifles coming from other sides.

Marcel had no chance on making that decision.

Without warning, many things happened at the same time. In an unexpected move, Katherine had pushed Marcel away from herself, towards the man with the crossed arms and Davina. And in a split second, Marcel realized that she had gone through the same options as him. And she was going for the woman with the rifle, while he was supposed to grab Davina and run.

A shot soared through the air between them and hit the barn door.

The man in front of Davina had straightened up and just as Marcel was reaching out to attack, he felt the man's heavy hand drop on his head, pushing him to the ground.

Marcel wanted to react, but before he had a chance he had already touched the ground with his face. It didn't make sense. How was this man so strong? He looked like a normal human, and he wasn't a vampire. Yet with a single smash, he had slam-dunked a vampire to the floor. Marcel had never experienced anything like it. He might a new vampire, but he wasn't that weak.

Everything began to turn dark and blurry, as helplessly tried to grasp himself free. Stay awake, he forced himself, trying to fight the evergrowing pain in his head. Another shot was fired. He tried to get up again but all his limbs felt heavy and leaden. He couldn't tell if seconds or minutes passed like this.

Suddenly the heavy load on his head and back disappeared.

A disconnected voice hovered over him. "Get up! Get up!"

His head turned.

For a second he believed to hear Davina, but slowly, Nik came into focus. He pulled at his shoulder, and Marcel followed the lead to get on his feet.

As he clambered up, a loud scream from a woman pierced through his ears.

Turning around, frightened, he searched the source of the scream, and just as he found it, he saw how Katherine went up in flames in mere seconds. Everything happened so fast that he couldn't even realize a thought on what to do. A moment later all was left was ash, and she was gone.

Perplexed, he stared at the spot where Katherine had been, only being pulled out of it when Nik pushed him behind himself for cover.

Only now he saw Davina and Briony on the other side of the room, some sort of magical shield around them. Davina was barely standing, holding on to Briony, her face bleeding. Three of the hunters were dead, lying on the floor, including the one that had pushed Marcel down. The woman on the wooden box and the rifle was still there. Another one was standing in front of the door. They didn't have the upper hand anymore.

The woman with the rifle had it pointed at Nik, but seemed to be aware that Nik was going to be faster than her if he needed to.

"Why are you doing this?" Davina asked, shaken.

"You know why. You are all going to pay for disrupting the balance of earth, playing with death. Maybe not today. But there will come a day you won't be able to hide behind each other. None of you are invincible."

The woman's eyes rested on Briony for a while who didn't say anything in return. Then the woman straightened up and moved towards the door.

From Nik's posture, Marcel could tell, that he was about to attack. On the other side of the room, Briony shook her head vehemently.

After some hesitation, Nik didn't act.

Shortly after, the hunters had left the barn.

Nobody dared to move until it was completely quiet.

Briony's eyes, terrified, rested on the dark spot on the ground where Katherine had gone up in flames.

"What happened?" Marcel asked.

With some hesitance, Nik replied: "One of their arrows did this. I have no idea what it is. I've never seen anything like it, someone going up in flames in matter of a few seconds."

Davina touched her forehead to find the source of her wound.

"Are you alright?" Marcel asked, concerned.

She nodded. "I'm okay."

"What did they want from you?" Nik asked her.

She shrugged. "From what I got they kept me as bait to get Marcel here. But I don't think they would have let me go afterwards. They weren't expecting you or Briony, though."

After a pause she added: "I think they wanna kill all of us."

Briony still watched the dark spot, deep in thoughts.

"We should leave," Nik said and put his hand on her back.

With one eye Nik was still observing the darkness that was lying behind the barn door, almost wanting to dare the hunters to come back. But there was nothing coming back.

As the silence truly settled in, the truth of what had truly happened hit Marcel, how with a blink of an eye, a life had ended. It was almost a coincidence that it hadn't been his.

* * *

_**Thanks so much for reading, and let me know in the comments if you like it!**_

_**I've been plotting a lot for this story in the last few days, so I'm super excited to write what's to come. And I hope the updates will come a bit more regularly than so far. **_

_**Thanks for commenting, and as for the question if Kol will make an appearance. Yeah, he totally will - but some other things must happen first, so please be patient with me :-) . **_

_**Actually all siblings will show up and have some bigger roles at one point, because sibling relationships are usually my favourite part to write. That, and Davina and Briony, because I feel like there are not enough girls in that family. Also, there will be a romantic interest for Rebekah later. So much for the next chapters!**_

_**See you soon!**_


	3. Chapter 3 Picking Houses

_**Yay, new chapter! I hope you like it!**_

* * *

Elijah and Rebekah arrived early the next morning. Marcel and Davina had already been up for a few hours discussing what had happened the night before. Briony had still been asleep, although Niklaus had the feeling she just didn't want to get out of bed. She wasn't taking what happened to Katherine very well.

When his brother and sister arrived at the doorstep, and he saw Elijah's face, he could tell that his brother was taking the news even harder. Nik didn't know if Elijah had any contact with Katherine in the last few years, but he knew that Elijah had always kept her as an option in the back of his head, never making up his mind but never quite letting go. Now he couldn't make that decision anymore. He looked like a car had just ran over him.

Downtrodden, he followed Rebekah and Nik into the house.

"Any news from Finn or Freya?" Rebekah asked when they were inside.

Niklaus told them that Finn had called the night before. He and Freya were together on some remote island in Indonesia when they had also received letters. After Nik told Finn what had happened in Oxford, they agreed to come home as fast as possible. It would take them a few days to get to London. The boat from the island only ran twice a week, and even then they still had to take buses, change flights 2 times until they'd be on a plane to London. Nik told them to stay alert during all that time. At least Freya was not completely useless with her powers should it come to another fight.

"What about Freya's boyfriend? Was he with them?" Rebekah asked.

"I don't think so," Nik said.

"Why not? Are they not together anymore?"

Nik shrugged, uninterested.

"You have met him on Christmas, right? What was he like?"

"Why is this important right now?" Elijah asked irritated.

Elijah was not in the moods to gossip, or talk about anything for that matter. Shortly after they had greeted Marcel and Davina in the living room, he had excused himself without coming back. Nik decided to give some space for now.

In an attempt to keep the morale up, Rebekah started: "So, who do you think they are?"

"Katherine had said they were hunters," Marcel said. "Not like any I have ever met, but she seemed pretty sure about it."

"Vampire hunters?" Nik replied skeptically.

Strong and violent, sure, but they hadn't operated like any vampire hunters Nik knew. All of them had been wearing the same dark clothes, something like a cloak. There had been a small symbol embroidered onto their jackets, a kind of double triangle with wavy lines. With their clothes and tools, those hunters seemed like a very specific kind of group. And after 1000 years he'd be very surprised if there was a group of vampire hunters that he or his family never had any contact with.

"Katherine only said hunters, didn't she?" Rebekah asked. "Considering they took Davina, and not Marcel, could it be that she meant witch hunters?"

Niklaus had never met any witch hunters, except a few human pretenders in the 1500s. He had no idea how they operated, or if organised groups of them even existed.

He thought about the night before. He had noticed that several of them were oddly fixed on Briony and what she did. He assumed it was because they knew the extent of her powers, but maybe it was more than that. What Rebekah said made sense. They had gone for Davina. Whatever they tried to do to him or Marcel was just collateral damage.

"Something about them was familiar," Nik said.

He couldn't place it, but he had the feeling he had had a similar encounter in his life.

"Well, I don't know what you're thinking about. But I know where I've seen people in those cloaks before," Marcel said.

"Where?" Nik asked.

"1925. In New Orleans. After you left."

"What happened in 1925?" Davina asked.

Marcel hesitated. "Ehm, a few misunderstandings, and many bad things. A lot of people died. Kol. Briony."

Nik glanced to his shoes. In retrospect, he could say that everything that had happened that year was his fault. 1925 was definitely not one of his proudest moments.

"Anyway," Marcel continued, "after you all left New Orleans in a hurry, leaving behind death and destruction, _they_ showed up. The people in these cloaks. They had heard about all the magic that was happening and were sniffing out anything magical, killed it, cleansing the city. I remember they had tortured a few witches and vampires to find out more. The rest of us just hid until it was over. Only when they figured out that all the major players involved were dead or had disappeared from New Orleans they left. Nobody has ever seen them again afterwards."

"Why have you never mentioned that before?"

"Honestly? I haven't thought about it a long time. Nobody in New Orleans has ever heard from them again, and we all moved on. It was such an obscure experience."

Niklaus had never heard anything like it. This whole issue was very secretive. It would be difficult to find out more if that was all they had on these people in cloaks.

While the rest were eager enough to do research, Nik went to see where Elijah had been.

He found Elijah in the kitchen.

Niklaus thought that was an odd choice to hide. It used to be good hiding spot when they had all been vampires, but now too many people in this house actually used the kitchen.

Elijah leaned on the kitchen table and looked outside the window.

"Are you alright?" Nik asked.

Elijah shook his head. "No, I feel like shit."

"You know, until last night I had never thought that this could be a real threat," he said, as he sat down next to Elijah.

"Me neither."

"I can imagine that losing her sucks a lot - I mean, I never liked her very much… sorry, that's not helpful. What I'm trying to say is, losing someone you love, no matter if you're together or not, is terrible, und I know what she meant to you. And I'm very sorry to see you suffer."

"Thanks," Elijah said.

After a pause he added: "It's weird. We already broke up a while ago. And I didn't even plan to see her ever again. So what does that mean for me and my life, now that she is gone for good? I really don't know."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

After a while, Elijah asked: "What exactly did you do here in the last five years?"

"I was here. In London."

"But what were you doing?"

"Not much. We were just hanging out I guess."

"Hanging out. I get it," Elijah replied knowingly.

"No!" Nik quickly said. "It's not like that. Briony and I just live in this house together. With no one else around. Which is not odd at all."

Elijah studied his face that he could feel turning red.

"You're actually serious. Nothing ever happened?" Elijah said with a raised eyebrow.

Nik didn't reply.

Elijah kept staring at him, as if he tried to read the truth in Nik's face. Nik had the impression that his brother succeeded.

"But it's not that you want to stay friends, right? You _do_ want something to happen."

Nik shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Just seems a bit unethical with our past, don't you think?"

Elijah stared at him with disbelief and then gave a small laugh. "It's really interesting that after all the terrible things you've done in your life, this is where you draw the line."

"When you say interesting you mean stupid, right?"

"I'm just saying, I'm feeling a bit offended that you suddenly have these high morals about hitting on your brothers' girlfriends. You never had any problems going out with girls that I liked."

"There is this small difference between you and Kol, being you're still alive."

Elijah looked him dead in the eye. "You once staked me and left me in a coffin for ten years so you could hit on my girlfriend."

"Not the same," Nik concluded. "Anyways, we don't need to have this conversation right now, with you being upset and all."

He got up again, avoiding his brother's eyes.

"Terrible save, but sure," Elijah replied. "Where is Briony by the way?"

"Hiding in her room. She thinks you'll blame her for what happened to Katherine because she told her to watch out for them in Oxford."

Elijah shook his head. "I don't blame her. I would have done the same. As I said, until last night I hadn't thought it was a serious threat either."

"Why did you agree to come here then?" Nik asked.

Elijah shrugged. "It was an easy way to bring Rebekah back to London."

"Are you gossiping about me again?" Rebekah suddenly stood in the doorway.

Before either of her brothers could answer, she added: "We have found something!"

A second later she had disappeared again. At this point even Elijah was interested and they both followed her back into the living room.

Marcel sat at a laptop with both Davina and Rebekah next to him. When he saw them coming, he turned the screen towards them.

"Look!" he said.

The screened showed a photo of two men wearing suits. It was an older picture, perhaps from the 1990s.

"People," Elijah concluded. "Who are they?"

"Not important," Marcel said with impatience. "Look at what's behind them!"

The men were standing inside a large room, perhaps in a town hall. Behind them was a fancy-looking wooden grand door.

Then, Niklaus saw it.

"The triangle symbol! It's on the door!"

"Exactly!" Davina said.

Niklaus leaned closer to read the caption below the picture: _Biannual meeting of the Midlands Geographical Society, London 1991._

"It's here in London," he concluded.

"And we think we know where," Marcel said, pointing to the text further down the article.

_For the last five decades, the Midlands Geographical Society meets biannually in their headquarters at Lindley Library._

"Now guess when the next meeting will take place," Rebekah said.

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

* * *

**London, 5 years earlier**

"If you need to stop and wonder every five minutes you should have gone with Davina and Marcel to have a look at the town."

Niklaus walked back to the last corner where Briony beamed inside a shop window with awe.

"What are you even looking at?" he asked.

She pointed at the window that presented an unnecessarily large amount of colourful and glittery soap bars.

"It's just marvellous," she said with glittering eyes.

"Okay," he said, trying not to lose his patience.

The morning had gone absurdly slow. They had arrived in London the day before and he meant to go look for a house for all of them to live in. On his own as he always did. But then Briony wanted to tag along. He didn't mind at first, but had started to regret this decision. Distracted by everything that London had to offer, Briony slowly strolled behind, stopping at every possible flashy advertisement grabbing for her attention.

When she hadn't taken her eyes off the window a few moments later, Nik asked: "Can we go now?"

"So much in London has changed since the last time I was here! It's just so much to take in!" she said excitedly.

"When was that again?"

"1892, I think," she said. "It's still as crowded and loud as back then I believe, but now it's somewhat shinier? Amazing."

"Yes, it's a marvel. Come on," he said with indifference.

With that he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. Even though he had to literally pull her in order to keep up with the pace, she didn't resist.

"I wasn't aware we were the hand-holding sort of people, Nik," she said.

"We are now if you still want to come along to pick a house."

"So how are we going to do this?" she asked, as they had successfully moved away from the busiest street.

"We pick one that we like and tell the owners to leave," he said.

"You tell them to leave?" she asked in disbelief.

"Why, what did you think I was going to do?" he said with some annoyance.

"Well… to be honest I'm relieved that's all there is to it."

He stopped in his tracks. "Why would I murder a bunch of people to get them out of a house? It's not just incredibly stupid but also very inefficient."

Briony shrugged.

Nik narrowed his eyes. "You people always think the worst of me."

"A few experiences with you here and there may have attributed to that assumption."

"Is this why you came along? To stop me from killing people?" he asked.

"Mainly I wanted to have a say in picking the house. If I can keep you from murdering people at the same time, I guess that's useful too," she said with a laugh.

He shook his head in annoyance.

"Come on now," she said with a reconciliatory smile and pushed him forward, "you said we were in hurry. Let's look at a house then."

Shortly after he spotted a house with a very promising facade. It was spacey but not too big, and was far away from other buildings.

He led the way, and Briony followed him inside.

"I think it will do," he said, after they had inspected the ground floor.

Then he turned to Briony. She glanced around the room with disinterest.

"The ceilings are very high," she said.

"…which is a bad thing?" he asked.

She made a non-committal shrug. "I just think they're a bit tacky."

He looked at her in bewilderment. "What is tacky about high ceilings?"

She shrugged again and gave a very judgmental noise from her.

"I guess… it's not the worst house I've ever been in…" she said with the most displeased sigh.

"Fine," he said impatiently, and headed back outside.

The next four buildings they looked at also had serious deficits according Briony, be it high ceilings, an ugly roof or an 'absurdly large hallway'. As the afternoon wore on, Nik started to question why he ever went with her to London in the first place. Perhaps he should have stayed in the US. Or just be on his own, that would make decision-making so much easier.

"Stop walking so fast," Briony said in a whiny tone after they had left the fifth turned down house, "my legs hurt."

"We wouldn't have to walk that much if you didn't turn down every house we've been in so far," he replied, repressing his anger.

"You're just very bad at picking houses."

"You pick then. See if you're better at this than me," he said, giving up.

A few minutes later, Briony had stopped in front of a rather narrow, high 4-storey house that definitely had seen better days. Mostly to humour her, he followed her inside.

It was nothing like the house he had imagined. It was adjacent to other buildings, the rooms, although many, were pretty small and there were too many stairs. It was a very old house with thin walls and weird wallpaper. He never understood how people could prefer living in such a place just for some weird nostalgic reasons.

But he had no desire to go back outside and look for a new place again.

"The ceiling's pretty high, you know," he said.

Briony quickly glanced up. "Nah, it's fine."

He was pretty sure whoever lived here wouldn't need much convincing to leave. The furniture was alright, but Nik couldn't imagine that anyone voluntarily spent money to live in such a place.

Briony disappeared upstairs. A short while later, when she didn't come down again, he followed her.

"It's excellent. There are so many bedrooms. There should be space for everybody. Even if Rebekah, Elijah, Finn and Freya show up at the same time…" she seemed to count the rooms she just saw in her head, "yeah there's enough space. Rebekah can stay in my room, I'm sure she doesn't mind."

He contemplated on her for a bit. "I wouldn't count on them showing up."

"Why would think that?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Just a feeling. They all seemed hell-bent on living on their own."

He didn't want to sound like he was bothered by it. Even though he was. And he had a hard time concealing it.

Briony observed him for a bit in a knowing kind of way, which made him uncomfortable.

"Of course they will come back. They always do," she eventually said with a smile.

Some part inside him suddenly wasn't so upset that he was alone with her.

"Don't worry, it might take longer than usual, but they'll come back for sure. You're not the only one who misses the times when everybody's together," she added.

Then she moved him aside, and turned back to the corridor. "Come on, we should pick out the best rooms for ourselves before Davina and Marcel are here."

He watched her for a while as she checked different rooms, opened windows and did a very bad job of moving around furniture. Being here without his siblings might not be so bad after all.

* * *

_**Let me know what you thought in the comments! I always appreciate feedback :-)**_


	4. Chapter 4 The Event

_**WHAT? Such a long break and suddenly an update? I don't know what's gotten into me, but I suddenly had the urge to get back into this story. I actually already wrote quite a bit of the story ahead that just needs a bit of editing. So I hope I can continue with more updates soon :-) To be honest, I'm not even sure how many people are still into TO stories, but I feel like now that I've written it and I'm still invested I feel like sharing.**_

* * *

"I'm going!" Rebekah said, marching into the hallway.

"No, you're not," Elijah said.

"Yes, I am," Rebekah said, as she put on her coat.

It had been like this the whole day. Now that they finally had a lead on who was threatening and trying to kill them, her brothers didn't want her to come along. Visiting a bi-annual meeting of an old geographical society apparently was "too dangerous" for a human.

Elijah shook his head. "We don't need you. There's nothing you bring to the table that I or Nik don't have."

"You need me," Rebekah said. "I think I've seen these symbols on the cloaks before. And if they're really old, it doesn't make sense to bring along Marcel."

The symbols Marcel had described had sounded very familiar, but Rebekah couldn't place where she had seen them. She knew Elijah didn't believe her. To be fair, she wouldn't believe herself, either. It was too good of an excuse to go along.

"I don't care if she comes along or not. As long as she doesn't keep us from doing what we need to do. And I think she will become a bigger problem if she doesn't come," Nik said.

Any other time, Rebekah would have appreciated the support, but the way Nik had said it sounded very indifferent. He had been like that ever since she got back from New York. But she had no interest in starting a fight with him as well.

"Let's go then?" Briony concluded, unfazed of the argument that had just happened.

Without awaiting a reply, she marched out of the door down the entrance stairs.

"Nobody is complaining that she is coming of course," Rebekah mumbled.

"Well, she does have more powers than you, Rebekah," Elijah rebutted, as he shut the door behind them.

The bi-annual meeting of the Midlands Geographical Society took place in Lindley Library, which was open to the general public, so the group believed they wouldn't stand out too much in the large crowds. Already when they arrived they saw a mass of people streaming into the building. It must be a popular event.

The four decided to split up and each have a look around for the door and any other signs for witch hunters.

Rebekah moved down the grand stairway into the main hall with high ceilings that was framed by two-storey galleries. Even higher up she could see people talking and walking around. She had not expected this to be such a popular event. But that was good. If there were any witch hunters here, it would take much longer until they noticed there were a witch and two vampires presents.

Rebekah had expected the majority of people at this meeting to be old and dusty, but some of them were quite young, and not too bad-looking. Perhaps she should get into geography instead of writing.

As she moved towards the bar, she had noticed how she had already caught the attention of a tall, handsome man who was all by himself, casually leaning at a small cocktail table.

Out of completely un-selfish reasons, she decided to start collecting information about this society with him.

"I have never seen you at these meetings before," the man said with a smile, when she had caught up with him.

"I'm new. I have joined the society last month because I'm so interested in geography. I'm a big fan of… maps… and globes. Those things."

"I see."

"And you? How long have you been involved with this whole thing here?" she asked, gesturing around her.

"As long as I can remember," he said with a laugh. "But I'm not too involved in much of the work, to be honest. Mostly just an observer."

There was a familiarity about him that Rebekah couldn't quite point to. But she tried to shake the thought off. When being around for a millennium, there was a big chance one already had met a relative of each living person. And after a while it almost felt like some faces repeated themselves.

"I'm Colin, by the way," he added, just when she had realized that she was staring at him without giving a response.

"Rebekah," she said.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Briony trying to get her attention with a frantic wave. Rebekah sighed silently. This had been a very short conversation.

Colin noticed her gaze and turned to look at Briony as well. He didn't seem very happy to be interrupted. His eyes rested on Briony with a slightly irritated gaze.

"I'm sorry, I got to go," Rebekah said reluctantly. "See you around later perhaps?"

"Is this the time to talk up cute boys?" Briony asked with a teasing smile, when Rebekah had caught up with her.

"I hope this is not the only reason why you waved me over here like a lunatic."

Briony laughed. "It was just an observation. But I wouldn't trust any of these people. For all we know that guy is a _witch hunter_."

She had whispered the last two words almost soundlessly.

Rebekah sighed. "Yeah, it's usually the cute ones."

She looked back to the table Colin had been, but he had disappeared. She thought about his irritated gaze when he had seen Briony. Perhaps it wasn't irritation about being interrupted. Perhaps he knew Briony was a witch.

Briony smiled and took Rebekah by her hand. "Come on, I must show you something."

Briony led her through an arcade-like structure that led away from the main hall to a second foyer. The crowd was considerably smaller in this area.

"There," Briony nodded towards the door across the room from them.

The wooden grand door from the picture. The triangle symbol was even more prominent in real life.

They walked over to the door to look at it in detail. With her fingers Rebekah traced the carved triangle lines. It was an old door but well-preserved. What was behind it?

With a swift movement, she shook the handle of the door. Rebekah wasn't surprised to find out it was locked.

Briony had taken a step back to look at it in its entirety. "To be honest, it doesn't look familiar to me at all. I don't think I've ever seen it in one of my books either."

Rebekah moved back next to her. The door was framed with two flags on each side. Two dark blue and red banners. On closer inspection she noticed that the symbol was embroidered in them as well.

Suddenly it had made click in Rebekah's head. A memory. Blue and red banners waving in the wind.

"I remember where I've seen these before!" Rebekah whispered excitedly.

Just at this moment, someone gave a small cough behind them.

Rebekah and Briony turned around.

"Can I help you with anything, ladies?"

A large man in a suit stood in front of them, smiling weakly. It was not a convincing smile.

"No, thanks. We were just looking at the interior design of this place," Rebekah replied.

The man observed first one then the other, his brow curled.

After a while he said in a tone that could only be menacing: "You are absolutely mad to walk in here."

"You know who we are?" Rebekah concluded.

The man didn't reply and just stared them down with his ice-cold eyes.

"What do you want?" Briony asked, breaking the farce.

The man turned to her. He looked almost offended that she spoke to him.

"Depends. In general? To stop magic from interfering with the course of nature. From you personally? The head."

A handle of a dagger appeared in one of his pockets, but the man had no chance to pull it out anymore. At the same time, Nikolaus appeared and broke the man's neck with the ease of throwing over a stack of cards.

The second the man fell to the ground, loud screams from a group of nearby people announced they had seen everything. And in the same moment, mayhem broke loose.

"Down!" Rebekah heard Elijah shout.

Before she could react, he had already pushed her and Briony to the ground. A searing skirl echoed through their ears, announcing how close the arrows had passed their heads. Rebekah immediately knew that these were the arrows Nik had mentioned from the events in the barn.

Rebekah had no time to orient herself as Elijah pulled her away from the spot she was lying. There were hands and people everywhere, shouting and screaming. Rebekah couldn't tell who was friend or foe. In the distance she saw Nik breaking a crossbow and then the carrier's spine in half.

Elijah stopped as they had reached the gallery on the first floor and he let go off her.

From afar, she and Elijah saw how the hunters had enclosed around Briony below them, unable to reach her through the protective shield she drawn around her.

"Should we go back and help her?" Rebekah said, unsure.

But Elijah didn't move and only watched the circle.

"Get out of the way," Briony said below them.

None of the men moved. They were at least a dozen.

"Alright," she said, reaching a decision.

Her blasé tone didn't give away what she was about to do.

Rebekah jerked back when the dozen hunters suddenly went up in flames.

As they all slowly fell to the ground, Briony passed through them slowly. "Consider that retribution for the barn."

"Let's leave," Elijah said, pulling at Rebekah's arm.

Elijah and Rebekah met with Niklaus and Briony outside on the now abandoned street. Neither of them paid her or Elijah any attention.

"Why, just why couldn't you wait until we actually found out something about those people?! You can't just go around murdering anyone that speaks out a threat!" Briony shouted angrily, as she dusted off the ashes from the fire off her clothes.

"What on earth was I was supposed to wait for? You were standing there, doing nothing!" Nik contested.

"I was handling the situation just fine!"

"You were about to be stabbed!" For a second, Niklaus registered Elijah and Rebekah, which he took as the unspoken sign to move home-wards.

"I wasn't! And now what are we going to do? Now, that they know all our faces, and know that we're onto them?" Briony said annoyed, following him.

"We needed to intimidate them! And now they are!"

"They were already intimidated by us! That's why they sent us death threats, Nik!"

Rebekah tried to appease them. "Guys, it's really not a big dea-"

But neither of them was listening.

"Let's just leave them like this until we're home," Elijah suggested, as they slowly strolled behind the continuing dispute.

The fight didn't die down for the rest of the walk home. At least nobody from the society was following them. They must have been busy stopping the fire.

"Can I just say that I'm enjoying it a little bit, that for once, Nik is having a passionate fight with somebody that is neither of us?" Rebekah said with a smile.

Elijah laughed. "Yeah, it's much less stressful like this."

Rebekah yawned. She would tell them about the banners later.

There had been a lot of witch hunters at this event tonight. Rebekah thought back to the cute one, Colin. She couldn't recall to have seen his face in the fight. Had he been there? Yet her instincts were probably right. She shouldn't trust anyone who had been at this event tonight, especially not the cute ones.

* * *

_**I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments. This was a bit shorter than usual but I'm trying to streamline the story a bit from my usual writing style. Let me know if you like it! There might still be some past scenes coming up later in the story, but for now I'm focusing a bit on the present. Kol is definitely showing up at one point by the way. **_


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